Purchased a Denver/Philadelphia Mint Set on Amazon. The U.S. Mint 1976 Uncirculated Coin envelope was sealed with a bar code label that I don't think has anything to do with the original envelope. The blue stripe cellophane pack is the Philly Set and the red stripe pack is the Denver Set. Here is my question. The Cent, Dime, Half Dollar and Dollar coins have a D mint mark. The Nickel and Quarter coins do not have a mint mark. Should a Denver Set possibly come with a Philly Nickel and Quarter? The cellophane doesn't seem to have been tempered with. Something doesn't seem right about this. The condition of the coins are a bit suspect compared to other Mint Sets I have Purchased. I realize that these coins were produced pretty much without extreme care for quality, but the condition looks a bit circulated to me. Anyone ever heard of fake Mint Sets? I'm not sure what to do about this purchase. Has anyone ever had anything like this happen with a Mint Set? RandyK
The incredibly low pricing of the '76 mint set makes faking one seem highly unlikely. Pix would certainly help.
Meow has heard some found mint sets with finger prints on them. Even Meow would know better, and use KittenMittens if working at the mint.
That is the best I can do for a picture at this time. You should be able to see that four of the coins have mint marks and that the nickel and quarter do not.
Welcome to Coin Talk. I'm curious as to where these sets are assembled. I've seen a few of these sets in various years with mistakes like your set. I don't know the value as there are some devious people and it wouldn't surprise me if someone outside of the Mint switched coins.
I will try this again. I paid less than $10 over face for the 12 coins. If they had been truly uncirculated coins I think that they would have been worth the cost. If someone was going to switch coins in the D Set, why wouldn't they have exchanged them with the correct mint mark? I do think that the D Quarter has a DDO that is of value, not sure about the nickel. I'm just confused about the situation. RandyK
I have two sets of the 2000 P & D mint set that the state quarters are missing all 5 coins meaning two of the 5 state quarters are the same . This is considered a mint error but not one that pays a premium. I do find it more than strange that coins from Philly and Denver were mixed in a set. I don't know the finial assembly point is at the mint, however I would think that they would package each set of 5 coins and mint marks at their mints. Then to pull 1 each from a money bag to make up each P & D sets. No matter again these wouldn't bring any premiums over a regular set unless some bid idiot on the bay had to have the set.
This is not a definitive answer. Rather more of an observation from a fellow that remembers collecting in those days...... When the Bicentennial series came out, we collectors were rabidly consuming the coins. We hadn't seen anything new from the mint since clad coins. And in those days the US mint was not the money making entity that it is now..... I could certainly see a scenario where overworked mint employees were hastily assembling mint sets trying to keep up with the collector base and inserting incorrect coins in the sets in the rush.
You probably overpaid buying them from Amazon. Face value in this set was $3.82 and the Mint sold them for $6.00. The RS Yeoman Red Book places a current value of $8.00 in the 2017 book and Yeoman's prices are high.
Randy, I remember those days as well. I'm 74 years old and was also collecting back in those days. I just never received a Mint Set with mixed marks before. Also never a set with circulated looking coins before. I want a good set, so I guess I will have to take the best of these and find individual coins to make it right. I do already have the Proof Set, I just wanted an uncirculated set.
These are mint packaging mistakes, not coin errors. They have no additional value and can even reduce the value of the set since many people purchase them to get all the denominations and mintmarks for that year
Bought some mint sets in the 80's/90's. Unimpressed with the poor quality, sold them at a yard sale and never bought them again. Proof sets are not much more money. And the coins are better.
I agree with Randy A and Oldhoopster — it happened at the mint. You can probably get a refund from Amazon or recoup some from a Ebay sale. I realize web shopping is convenient, but I would visit a local coin shop for items like this. I just recently purchased a total of 20 packages of ‘75, ‘77, and ‘78 mint sets from a local shop for just 9¢ over face value. He was thrilled to get rid of them.
I know what you mean. My best dealer/buddy has mint sets stacked to the ceiling in the center of his place so you have to trip over them to get to the "candy counter".
Something's horribly wrong here. The coins look fine for a '76 mint set and they probably all originated in a mint set. But they didn't originate in THAT mint set. I've never seen a mint set from '76 with a misplaced coin and two in the same set is simply "impossible". It is probably a counterfeit set even though it looks nearly right. I've heard of counterfeit sets but I've long believed they don't really exist... ...at least till now. A lot of these sets are tarnished so they may have just repackaged good coins into a set and made the errors. I'd love to see more pictures and will do a more thorough study if you can provide them. Packaging and the reverse pictures would help.
With everything else that’s going on there, maybe it’s worth asking if that Denver Ike is type 2 as expected.
If he is willing to sell the sets for .09 cents above face, he can just crack them open and use them as change in his shop. Although it would be a good advertised loss leader to get people in the store. "Crazy Eddie Coins here! We've got mint sets for 9 cents above face! That's right 9 cents! So come on down before they take me away in a straight jacket! Crazy Eddie Coins, our prices are INSANE!"
That’s why I bought them, just to get the Ike’s and use them for tips at restaurants. I will leave 2 Ikes on the table, and the waiter/waitress thinks they have struck it rich!
